Overview

• Over 100 Russian doctors have signed an open letter demanding the immediate release of Sasha Skochilenko, an artist sentenced to seven years in prison for protesting the Ukraine war.
• Skochilenko was charged with spreading false information about the military after she replaced supermarket price tags with anti-war messages.
• The doctors' letter warns that Skochilenko's health could significantly deteriorate in prison as she has been diagnosed with severe chronic diseases.
• Skochilenko's arrest is part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Russia, with a law criminalizing any public expression about the war that deviates from the official Kremlin line.
• Russia's most prominent human rights group, Memorial, has declared Skochilenko a political prisoner.